What’s New in Search?
How destinations can leverage new search trends
Background
                                 Meanwhile…

Cornell University School of
Hotel Administration
TravelCLICK, Director of Sales
Milestone Internet Marketing,
Regional Director of Sales
Sercius
What SEO Isn’t




Even Gmail knows this is spam!
Let’s get specific on these trends

Penguin/Panda algorithmic changes

Google+

Authorship

Knowledge Graph
Google+
Some Perspective

    Google+ has 400 million users, 100 million active*

    Facebook has 1 billion users




*http://mashable.com/2012/09/18/google-has-400-million-members/, September 2012
Why does Google+ matter?

Since search is becoming semantic in nature, you need
a social component
Bing has Facebook and Twitter, so they don’t need
Bing+
Google needs more social information to complete the
picture
Is Google+’s audience all you need for marketing? No.
Does it still matter? Yes.
Personalized Search

 Personal Site




 Personal Site




  Personal Site



Several of the socialized results appear within the SERP’s, but Google has much more info than they’re showing.
Action Item: Focus on growing your online network to mirror your offline network.
Where to start on Google+? Merge Local and Business Listing.




Greater emphasis on
photos with ability to
  leave comments

             More
             social




                                                                                 More
                                                                                 social
Book through OTA’s or
    hotel directly




  Reviewers use real
  names. You can still
  respond to reviews.


 Action Item: Update your listing with as much useful information as possible.
Impact
G+ Getting Organized
Organize your contacts into circles
Segment circles in a similar way to email marketing
Share targeted content with your circles




Try Hangouts with your fans and tell them about upcoming events.
Use Ripples to Find Influencers


                           Looks at ripples
                           from your posts
                           Look at ripples
                           from your
                           competitors
                           posts
Authorship
What does Authorship look like?



                             You know you
                              want to click
                              on this one.
Authorship Influence on Rankings

Opportunity for sites with poor visibility to create
valuable content and get visibility

Search is becoming more social. Credibility is
tied to an individual, not just a company.

Links shared on Google+ are crawled and
indexed very quickly
Authorship Set-up
You need to complete a circuit of verified trust between Google and your published
content. There are several methods to configure this.
Knowledge Graph
Knowledge Graph
What is the knowledge graph? Announced in May, the knowledge
graph provides users with semantic search driven results.


                                                    It’s this thing!
What does it mean for SEO?

                                                                             Carousel
                                                                            introduced
                                                                            in August




Action Item: Ensure that you are providing useful content about these top
          attractions, written for people, not the search engines.
How is it devised?




Essentially based on a collection of databases including Wikipedia,
          Freebase, Google Maps, and Google Shopping
What can you do with it?




Action Item: Correct your information. Algorithms and human review
               determine if a fact should be corrected.
Knowledge Graph and SEO Implications

When content is available in a structured format then the
probability of it being visible in the Knowledge Graph and
in the SERP’s increases.
Content expressed as microdata makes it even easier
for it to be understood by the search engines.
When this clear, structured content gets shared by
authority sites (think social!), it gains more credibility and
traction.
Where to start?

Start the conversation with factual, structured content
Write the kind of content that you see Knowledge Graph
using
Fluffy content won’t get you UGC and engagement
Use Google+ to share targeted content to your
segmented circles
•   Post
•   Share others useful posts
•   Link to useful information on your site
•   Add your site to your ‘Contributor To’ section
SEO Trends - Presented at eTourism Summit

SEO Trends - Presented at eTourism Summit

  • 1.
    What’s New inSearch? How destinations can leverage new search trends
  • 2.
    Background Meanwhile… Cornell University School of Hotel Administration TravelCLICK, Director of Sales Milestone Internet Marketing, Regional Director of Sales Sercius
  • 3.
    What SEO Isn’t EvenGmail knows this is spam!
  • 4.
    Let’s get specificon these trends Penguin/Panda algorithmic changes Google+ Authorship Knowledge Graph
  • 5.
  • 6.
    Some Perspective Google+ has 400 million users, 100 million active* Facebook has 1 billion users *http://mashable.com/2012/09/18/google-has-400-million-members/, September 2012
  • 7.
    Why does Google+matter? Since search is becoming semantic in nature, you need a social component Bing has Facebook and Twitter, so they don’t need Bing+ Google needs more social information to complete the picture Is Google+’s audience all you need for marketing? No. Does it still matter? Yes.
  • 8.
    Personalized Search PersonalSite Personal Site Personal Site Several of the socialized results appear within the SERP’s, but Google has much more info than they’re showing. Action Item: Focus on growing your online network to mirror your offline network.
  • 9.
    Where to starton Google+? Merge Local and Business Listing. Greater emphasis on photos with ability to leave comments More social More social Book through OTA’s or hotel directly Reviewers use real names. You can still respond to reviews. Action Item: Update your listing with as much useful information as possible.
  • 10.
  • 11.
    G+ Getting Organized Organizeyour contacts into circles Segment circles in a similar way to email marketing Share targeted content with your circles Try Hangouts with your fans and tell them about upcoming events.
  • 12.
    Use Ripples toFind Influencers Looks at ripples from your posts Look at ripples from your competitors posts
  • 13.
  • 14.
    What does Authorshiplook like? You know you want to click on this one.
  • 15.
    Authorship Influence onRankings Opportunity for sites with poor visibility to create valuable content and get visibility Search is becoming more social. Credibility is tied to an individual, not just a company. Links shared on Google+ are crawled and indexed very quickly
  • 16.
    Authorship Set-up You needto complete a circuit of verified trust between Google and your published content. There are several methods to configure this.
  • 17.
  • 18.
    Knowledge Graph What isthe knowledge graph? Announced in May, the knowledge graph provides users with semantic search driven results. It’s this thing!
  • 19.
    What does itmean for SEO? Carousel introduced in August Action Item: Ensure that you are providing useful content about these top attractions, written for people, not the search engines.
  • 20.
    How is itdevised? Essentially based on a collection of databases including Wikipedia, Freebase, Google Maps, and Google Shopping
  • 21.
    What can youdo with it? Action Item: Correct your information. Algorithms and human review determine if a fact should be corrected.
  • 22.
    Knowledge Graph andSEO Implications When content is available in a structured format then the probability of it being visible in the Knowledge Graph and in the SERP’s increases. Content expressed as microdata makes it even easier for it to be understood by the search engines. When this clear, structured content gets shared by authority sites (think social!), it gains more credibility and traction.
  • 23.
    Where to start? Startthe conversation with factual, structured content Write the kind of content that you see Knowledge Graph using Fluffy content won’t get you UGC and engagement Use Google+ to share targeted content to your segmented circles • Post • Share others useful posts • Link to useful information on your site • Add your site to your ‘Contributor To’ section

Editor's Notes

  • #3 Fundamentals still matter in SEO The majority of these changes attempt to make it harder for spammers to fake relevancy Opportunity for quality content Trend towards context, social authority, and trust
  • #4 Thank you, Penguin, for your attack on the link economy The recent algorithmic changes give you the opportunity to show how trustworthy and valuable you are SEO is becoming even less about words, and more about actions
  • #9 When the +1 button launched, it had a major impact on visibility. Google got a lot of feedback that it wasn’t a useful thing for the user, so they’ve scaled it back. Where do they stand on it now? That they’re still testing it and time will tell how much of a ranking signal it is. Prediction: You will see increasing amounts of personalization and socialization.
  • #12 Circles: Group your following into themes of content – share link for the official site of “attraction” and begin tying yourself to it Create targeted content that each circle will care about Share promotions and special offers targeted toward each circle Hangouts: The Hangout can automatically upload to your YouTube account.
  • #13 Reach out personally to your influencers and supporters Engagement tip: flag people down with +____ name
  • #15 What is authorship? Authorship markup may provide you with a rich snippet in the SERP’s Helps to show the credibility of the author, from different sources The rich snippets offer more information (image, aggregated posts, etc.) that make it stand out from non-rich results.
  • #17 You also need good, quality content. In general 3-5 posts min before you might see this start showing. Test with the Structured Data Testing Tool, formerly the rich snippets testing tool
  • #20 Skate where the puck is going, not where it’s been.
  • #21 Knowledge graph is primarily built off of Freebase. Freebase is open source. You can download the data and parse it through and look at the syntax yourself. They also use Wikipedia. You can see where the information is pulling from. You can edit the information in the database.
  • #22 When you report something, it not only fixes it through google, but it’s an open feed that goes back to Wikipedia and in many cases Freebase.
  • #23 Microdata is a set of tags that you can add to the html that say “this is what this information is talking about” Current supported microdata: Reviews People Products Businesses and organizations Recipes Events  Music Video